Start Before Graduation: Building Alumni Loyalty Through Student Connections-Slides

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Pdf Summary

The document summarizes a presentation by Kieran Davey, Alumni Engagement Officer at the University of British Columbia, on the strategic value of alumni-student engagement. The goal was to show how institutions can build scalable, cost-effective programs that strengthen connections between students and alumni, even with limited resources.<br /><br />UBC’s context includes 70,000 students, more than 425,000 alumni, and about 10,000 new graduates each year. The presentation emphasizes that alumni-student connections benefit everyone: students gain mentorship, resources, confidence, and belonging; alumni gain meaningful ways to contribute and reconnect; and the institution benefits through stronger loyalty, volunteer pipelines, and long-term affinity.<br /><br />The proposed framework has three steps: assess where you are, define a clear purpose, and simplify. Key principles include maximizing return on investment, supporting student-led programming, using lightweight governance, relying on simple tools and templates, and building feedback loops.<br /><br />Two major initiatives were highlighted. First, the Partnership Program shifted focus away from running events internally and toward supporting partnerships across campus. This resulted in growth from 7 events to 13, and from 400 students and 116 alumni to 1,500 students and 250 alumni, while cutting budget by 50% and staff hours by 80%. Second, Digital Engagement expanded social media reach by centering student voices and using student-run content. This led to major increases in reach, interactions, and views, including 248K accounts reached and 1.3M views in 2024/25.<br /><br />Overall, the presentation argues that alumni-student engagement is a strategic investment that can be scaled effectively through partnerships, student leadership, and simplified processes.

Keywords

alumni engagement

student engagement

University of British Columbia

partnership program

digital engagement

student-led programming

alumni-student connections

scalable programs

cost-effective strategy

social media reach